Cpu "runaways"

Since changing from SCO-UNIX to Linux, we noticed that it is easier to produce cpu "runaways". For example, if you start a telnet session to the server, then start the shell utility "top", then ungracefully exit top (by killing the telnet session)...the "top" process continues to run but in what appears to be a race condition (uses all available cpu). I can do this (runaway) also with our propietary app, but some apps/tools do not do this , like netconfig... The "runaways" appear to be pleasent ones, just consiming cpu as it is available (look nasty, but dont seem to load down the system).

That sure sounds like the answer, but it did not work. I tried adding shopt -s huponexit to /etc/bashrc, and verified it was really on before starting the test app (netconfig). Perhaps huponexit is broke in bash?
Additional Info:
This problem I am having does not effect the root user, regardless of the shopt settings, only regular users and when I su to root (from a regular user).

The problem was caused by having "trap" statement in the .bash_profile. The trap was part of a fu-fu to get an extra password to appear when a user was detected as a dialup modem. I will seek an alternative, and post a seperate question. I learned some valuable info from your input, Thank You .

If you have a server on collocation with the super-fast CPU, that doesn't mean that you get it running at full power.
Here is a preamble. When doing inventory of Linux servers, that I'm administering, I've found that some of them are running on l…

Learn several ways to interact with files and get file information from the bash shell.
ls lists the contents of a directory: Using the -a flag displays hidden files: Using the -l flag formats the output in a long list: The file command gives us mor…